21 December 2018
By email to: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Jens Bakewell and LJ Potter,
I refer to your Freedom of Information request received on 8 December 2018 about
transgender staff members.
Details of any exemptions applied are below. Where any information is “not held”, this is
explained below. Those parts of the University’s response (together with the details of how
to ask the University to review the management of your request, or thereafter to seek a
review by the Scottish Information Commissioner, should you wish to do so – please see
below) constitutes the notice in writing that the information specified is not held by the
University which is required under section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002 (“FOISA”).
Your enquiry and the University’s response.
1. How many members of staff were employed at your institution (as of 1st November
2018)?
726, including hourly-paid staff.
2. During your recruitment process, how do you ask candidates about their title? Does your
online application system have default title choices, e.g Mr/Mrs/Ms? If yes, what is the list
available? Do you offer a free-form box to enter title? Is title a required field on your online
application form?
Our online application form provides a drop-down field for ‘title’, and is a mandatory field.
The available options for selection are: Dr, Miss, Mr, Ms, Mx, Professor, Rev.
3.1. During your recruitment process, how do you ask candidates about their gender identity
outside of your Equal Opportunity Monitoring form? If so, does your online application
system have default gender options, e.g Female/Male? If yes, what is the list available? Do
you offer a free form box to enter gender? Is gender a required field on your online
application form?
Under the
Equality & Diversity section of the application form, we ask candidates to select
from a drop-down field for genders. The options are: male, female, do not specify. This is a
required field, and we are looking to expand the options given in the New Year (to include,
for example, non-binary etc).
3.2 On your equal opportunities monitoring form for recruitment do you ask for candidates to
state their gender? If yes, what questions are asked and what options are provided? Are
candidates able to select an option which is not provided?
Please see response to Q 3.1, above. No further equal opportunities monitoring forms are
provided for new staff recruited through our online application form, as all information is
captured there as above. For temporary staff with a contract of 12 weeks or less, a
new start
information form, which includes an equalities monitoring section, is provided, with the same
questions and fields as in Q 3.1 above. From 31 January 2019 temporary staff will be
required to apply online as above.
3.3 Do you ask candidates about the sex/gender they were assigned at birth? Do you ask if
candidates if they are transgender? If so, what are the questions you ask and what are the
options provided?
The online application form includes the question “Does your gender identity match your sex
as registered at birth?” and the options available for selection are: no, yes, prefer not to
specify.
3.4 Do you ask candidates any other questions about their gender identity? If yes, what are
they and what options do you provide?
No.
4. If such information is available, what is the breakdown (in percentages) of sex or
gender/gender identity of employed staff at your institution? What is the percentage of
employed staff at your institution who do not identify as the sex assigned at birth? Please
provide this information as 1st November 2018
Information on Abertay University’s staff profile, including gender, is available to you from
our most recent Equality Mainstreaming Report, which can be found online here (particularly
page 29):
https://www.abertay.ac.uk/media/2450/equality_mainstreaming_report_2017_with_cover_2.p
df
We have not provided information about the percentage of employed staff who do not
identify as the sex assigned at birth as the numbers are so small, and individuals could
potentially be identified.
The University is required to consider legislative tests applying to personal data when a
request is received. This includes where information, either on its own or in combination with
other information, might lead to the identification of individuals and/or the disclosure of
personal data about them, or their ‘special categories’ of personal data.
The University considers that to release the information requested would not be fair or lawful
to the data subject(s) or would otherwise breach the Data Protection Principles (Article 5,
General Data Protection Regulation). The University has therefore applied the exemption for
personal data in section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and has
withheld the requested information. Where applicable under the legislation, the University
has also considered that the public interest test favours the withholding of the information.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (“HESA”) has provided more information on
redacting/disguising low numbers and data protection. HESA routinely does this, and is the
UK higher education sector’s leading statistical reporting and research body.
Their information on low numbers is available to you at:
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/about/regulation/data-protection/rounding-and-suppression-
anonymise-statistics
For more information, please refer to the Information Commissioner’s Office guidance at:
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/
5. Do you have a transgender equality policy? If so, please attach and return with your
response. If not – is there a transgender section in your wider equality policy? If yes, please
attach and return with your response.
Yes; this is available on the University’s external equality & diversity page and on the staff
intranet (attached).
6. What is the procedure to support staff who transition whilst in role at the university?
- How would they change their name, title and gender marker? Please see attached policy.
- What would you do if a member of staff at the university wanted to use a gender that was
not currently listed on your system? Information not held: there is no recorded policy in place
for this specific situation.
- Do you have a central point of contact for administering changes across all IT systems?
No.
- How is the policy made available to managers and staff? Do you provide specific training?
The policy is published on the staff intranet; no specific training is provided.
7. Do any of your policies and procedures specifically include non-binary people (those who
do not identify as male or as female), and if so, in what ways? Please attach any policies
that specifically mention non-binary people.
Information not held: there are no University policies that specifically refer to non-binary
people.
8. Across university systems (such as HR, name badges, IT accounts etc) what title choices
are available for members of staff at your institution? (e.g Ms, Mrs, Mr etc). Are titles
compulsory for people to state?
Most University systems (the staff directory, IT accounts) draw data from the HR system and
would therefore match with the answers provided during the recruitment process, as detailed
in Q3 above. The University has no specific policy on the use of titles on name badges,
email signatures etc.
9. What provisions have you put in place for transgender (including non-binary) members of
staff at your institution to ensure that these staff members feel comfortable and included at
your organisation?
The University has established a Lead Voices scheme made up of staff and student
volunteers in groups supporting each of the protected characteristics, including transgender
staff and students. These groups have been set up to create networks where individuals can
seek guidance and support in a safe and inclusive manner.
This concludes the University’s response.
Your right to seek a review of how your information request was managed
If you are not satisfied with our response or our reasoning set out above, you have 40
working days in which to require a review of our decision. Any such request should be put in
writing and should be sent to the University Secretary, Abertay University, at the address
provided below. The request should:
(a) detail your request for a review of our decision to be undertaken
(b) describe the nature of your original request
(c) explain the reasons why you are dissatisfied with our response
University Secretary
Abertay University
Bell Street
Dundee
DD1 1HD
Tel (01382) 308016
E-mail: x.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xx.xx
If you remain dissatisfied with how your request for information has been dealt with, you also
have the right, in terms of section 47 of FOISA, and within 6 months, to apply to the Scottish
Information Commissioner for a decision as to whether we have handled your request
properly.
Information relating to your right to seek review is available from the Scottish Information
Commissioner's website:
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info
or by contacting the Scottish Information Commissioner's Office at the following address:
Scottish Information Commissioner,
Kinburn Castle,
Doubledykes Road, St Andrews,
Fife KY16 9DS
Telephone: 01334 464610
Fax: 01334 464611
E-mail: mailto:xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Website: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info
Or via the SIC’s online appeals service:
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Unhappywiththeresponse/AppealingtoCommi
ssioner.aspx
If you are unhappy with the Commissioner’s decision, you also have the right to appeal
further to the Court of Session, on a point of law only, under section 56 of FOISA. Please
refer to the Commissioner’s website (details above) for further information about your right of
appeal to the Court of Session.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Processing
Academic Registry
Abertay University
Abertay University is a registered Scottish charity, no. SC016040